Two people are dead after an apparent murder-suicide at a county office building on Tuesday. At 4:45 p.m., the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department responded to a reported shooting at the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“We responded to an active shooter situation here,” said Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown. “We got here, and two subjects were deceased. We are not looking for any suspects at this time. The community doesn’t need to be alarmed. There is no suspect at large.”
Commissioner John Wiley Price confirmed the shooting as a murder-suicide involving a husband and wife, according to Fox 4 News. The man allegedly shot and killed his wife, who is an employee at the ME’s office, before turning the weapon on himself.
The Sheriff’s office said the man, aged 51, and the woman, aged 46, were an estranged couple.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said officials were not immediately releasing the names of the shooter or victims and are notifying next of kin, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Price said the lobby does not have metal detectors, and he believes the shooter may have entered through an employee entrance. The sheriff’s office has not confirmed how the shooter accessed the building.
“You can have the best security in the world, and you can’t stop people who are determined whatever evil they are going to carry out. He could’ve sat in the parking lot and done the same thing. He knew where she worked,” Price said.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office, which operates 24 hours a day, has moved all work operations to the county health department next door while investigators review the crime scene.
This shooting comes two weeks after a shooting at the Dallas Methodist Hospital, which resulted in the deaths of an employee and a social worker, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.